Hollywood executive to head Yahoo!Xtra team

Hollywood executive to head Yahoo!Xtra marketing team

A former Senior Vice-President of New Media for Universal Music Group Distribution is to head the marketing team at New Zealand’s newest new media company, Yahoo!Xtra.

With more than 20 years in the entertainment industry, Susan Carlton has held senior sales and marketing positions with a number of television and film companies in the United States, including ABC, Republic Pictures, Handleman Company Media Home Entertainment and, most recently, Universal Music Group.

Announcing Ms Carlton’s appointment to the Yahoo!Xtra senior management team, Chairman Ian Smith said her broad industry knowledge, particularly her experience in new business development and strategy with Universal, would be very valuable to Yahoo!Xtra.

Ms Carlton, who will take up her new role at the end of April, said that she and her husband had visited New Zealand repeatedly over the years, and decided to make a permanent move last year.

“We really fell in love with the personality of the country. There are a lot of fresh and innovative things happening here in a whole range of industries, which will be greatly enabled by the power of new technology offerings,” Ms Carlton said.

“In particular, the growing awareness among New Zealand businesses of the benefits of advertising on the internet provides exciting opportunities for new media companies.”

Mr Smith said signing Ms Carlton was a real coup for Yahoo!Xtra, and added that Ms Carlton’s international experience, combined with her desire to make a meaningful contribution to her adopted country, personified the Yahoo!Xtra philosophy of providing New Zealand internet users with the best the world had to offer, spiked with a local flavour.

Mr Smith also announced two other appointments to the Yahoo!Xtra marketing team: Marketing Manager Margaret Hawker and Online Marketing Specialist Nicole Scheid.

Ms Hawker brings to Yahoo! Xtra more than 11 years experience working across a number of marketing facets, including direct and online marketing, brand management, and sales strategy, most recently with ACP Magazines. Ms Scheid provides extensive digital media experience to the team, having worked as a web designer, technology writer and new media manager. Both will begin working with Yahoo! Xtra in late April.

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